Apparatus for changing the position of a manipulator arm

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for changing the operating angle of a manipulator arm includes a shaft pivotal within a pivot means and an adjustment means mounted on the shaft adjacent to the pivot means and including threaded adjustment elements adjustably engaging a receiving member on the pivot means to thereby adjustably rotate the shaft on the pivot means with the application of a minimum of force.

United States Patent Ohnaka Se t. 16 1975 [54] APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE 1,111,177 9/1914 Pieper 248/285 X POSITION OF A MANIPULATOR ARM 1,223,085 4/1917 Manierre 248/283 2,433,734 12/1947 Bucko 248/283 [75] Inventor: Makoto Ohnaka, Yokohama, Japan 2.5439 7 3/1951 Heyer 248/16 x 2,550,818 5/1951 Johnson... 248/283 X [73] Ass1gnee: shlrpyania K'og'yo Kabushlki Kalsha, 2,737,709 3/1956 Lovelace 269/60 X Kdnagawd Japan 2,901,195 8/1959 Simpson... 248/16 22 Filed: July 0 974 3,672,620 6/1972 Fink 248/125 [21] Appl' 487065 Primary Examiner-J. Franklin Foss Attorney, Agent, or FirmFrank J. Jordan [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 8, 1974 Japan 49-39956 7 ABSTRACT 52 us. (:1 248/16; 269/59 Apparatus for Changing the Operating angle of a 511 lm. c1. F16F 15/00; F16M 1/00 nipulator arm includes a Shaft Pivotal Within a Pivot [58] Field of Search 248/16, 289, 282, 283, means and an adjustment means mounted on the Shaft 24 27 2 5 295; 2 9 79 5 59 6O, 6], adjacent to the pivot means and including threaded 62 56; 214/1 OF adjustment elements adjustably engaging a receiving member on the pivot means to thereby adjustably r0- [56] References Cited tate the shaft on the pivot means with the application UNITED STATES PATENTS of a mmmum of 719,625 2/1903 Throm 248/296 X 2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEP-l 61975 SHEET 2 UP 3 PATENTEUSEPI BIBYS 3 905 569 FIG.4

APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE POSITION OF A MANIPULATOR ARM 4 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus for changing or adjusting the fitting or operating angle of a manipulator arm.

Heretofore, problems have been encountered in providing adjustment in the operating angle of a manipulator arm wherein it was desired to provide for an adjustment which required a minimum of force to effect the adjustment and wherein precise adjustment of the angle may be made. In addition, apparatus providing for adjustment would be constructed such that once an adjustment is made, securement of the apparatus in its final adjusted position might tend to change the adjustment which was previously made.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of known prior art arrangements and to provide an apparatus for adjusting the angle of a manipulator arm which enables or permits precise adjustment of the manipulator arm with only the application of a small or minimum amount of force.

Another object of the present invention is to provide for securing a manipulator arm in its final adjusted position and wherein such securement does not have an adverse affect on the adjustment which was made previously.

Other features which are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described in relationship to specific embodiments, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without department from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Apparatus for changing the operating angle of a manipulator arm includes a shaft fixed to the manipulator arm. A support has pivot means in which the shaft is pivotally received and an adjustment means is fixedly mounted on the shaft and disposed adjacent to the pivot means. A receiving member is fixed to the pivot means and movable elements are threadedly received on the adjustment means to engage the fixed receiving member to thereby adjustably rotate the shaft in the pivot means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for changing a fitting angle of a manipulator arm according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view ofa portion of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, a support arm 1 is secured to the side of a suitable working machine 2. The support arm I is provided at its outer end with a bracket 4 having a vertical hole 3. On the upper side of the bracket 4 there is suitably secured such as by bolts a receiving element 5.

.The bracket 4 has a side portion in which there is a slot 6 extending from the side of the bracket to the vertical hole 3 and opening into the latter. One side of the slot 6 has an ear 7 having a threaded hole 8. Accordingly, a bolt 9 passing through the hole 8 is threadedly engagable in an opposite hole 10 in the bracket 4 wuch that tightening of the bolt 9 will tend to close the slot 6. Thus it will be seen that tightening and loosening of the bolt 9 will affect the diameter of the hole 3 in the bracket as will hereinafter be further described.

As shown in the drawings, a manipulator arm 12 is provided which is movable mounted on a slide 11. A vertically disposed shaft 14 extends into an appropriate portion of the slide 11 and a key 13 is provided between the shaft 14 and the slide 11 so as to preclude relative rotational movement therebetween. The upper portion'of the shaft 14 is received in the vertical hole 3 in the bearing bracket 4. The shaft 14 has an upper end portion 14a of smaller diameter and this upper end portion 14a extends beyond the upper side of the bearing bracket 4. A forked member 15 is disposed on the upper side of the bearing bracket 4 and has an opening in which the upper end portion 14a of the shaft 14 is received as can most clearly be seen in FIG. 4. A key 16 prevents relative rotation between the shaft 14 and the forked member 15. A bolt is threadedly received in the shaft end portion 14a and a washer type element is provided between the bolt head and the forked member 15.

The forked member 15 has two spaced parallel leg portions 17 as can best be seen in FIG. 3. Bolts 18 are threadedly received in openings in the end portions of the legs 17 and the ends of these bolts 18 are disposed and positioned where they are adapted to engage opposite sides of the previously mentioned receiving member 5. It will further be seen in the drawings that a threaded shaft 19 which may be rotated by an attached handle 24) is operable to raise and lower the slide 11 as the latter slides longitudinally but non-rotatingly on the shaft 14.

Having described the structure and arrangement of the various parts, the operation of the apparatus will now be set forth. It will be seen that the bolt 9 may be turned to tightly secure the bearing bracket 4 on the shaft 14. However, the bolt 9 may be loosened, thereby freeing the shaft 18 to rotate in the opening 3 in the bearing bracket 4. Accordingly, either one of the bolts 18 may be advanced while turning the other one back so that the fork member 15 together with the shaft 14 will be rotated in the desired direction. Rotation of the shaft 14 will effect a change in the fitting or operating angle of the arm of the manipulator 12. Thus, FIG. 1 shows in broken lines three different positions of the arm of the manipulator 12.

After the desired angle of the manipulator has been set, the slide 11 is immovably fixed relative to the support I by tightening the bolt 9 which causes the bearing bracket 4 to securely grip the shaft 14 inasmuch as tightening of the bolt 9 causes the slot 6 to close and secure the shaft 14 in the opening 3.

From the above description it will be seen that precise adjustments of the manipulator arm may be effected by utilizing the push bolts 18. In addition, from a practical point of view, only a relatively small force is required to operate the above described apparatus to effect the adjustment At the same time the apparatus may be securely locked in position without effecting the adjustment which has been made to determine the position of the slide.

While the present invention has been described by means of specific examples and in specific embodiments, it is not intended to be limited thereto, for obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for changing the operating angle of a manipulator arm comprising a slide on which said manipulator arm is mounted, a shaft fixed to said slide, a support having a bracket with an opening in which said shaft is received, a slot in said bracket extending to said opening, a threaded element in said bracket operable to apply and release a force to said slot whereby said shaft is accordingly tightly gripped or loosely disposed 4 in said opening, a forked member, means fixedly mounting said fork member on said shaft adjacent to said bracket, said forked member having two spaced legs, a receiving member fixed to said bracket, said receiving member projecting from said bracket in an axial direction to a position betweenthe spaced legs of said forked member, movable elements threadedly engaged in each of said spaced legs and operable to en gage said fixed receiving member to thereby adjustably rotate said shaft in said bracket when said threaded element has released said force to said slot and said shaft is loosely held in said opening in said bracket.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said forked member has a lateral projection which extends beyond the outer edge of said bracket, said bracket being axially located on said shaft between said forked member and said slide, a threaded screw member rotatingly supported in said lateral projection of said forked member, said threaded screw element extending parallel to said shaft and being disposed beyond said outer edge of said bracket, and means interconnecting sa-id screw member and said slide for said manipulator arm such that rotation of said screw member raises and lowers said slide and said manipulator arm relative to said forked member and relative to said bracket. 

1. Apparatus for changing the operating angle of a manipulator arm comprising a slide on which said manipulator arm is mounted, a shaft fixed to said slide, a support having a bracket with an opening in which said shaft is received, a slot in said bracket extending to said opening, a threaded element in said bracket operable to apply and release a force to said slot whereby said shaft is accordingly tightly gripped or loosely disposed in said opening, a forked member, means fixedly mounting said fork member on said shaft adjacent to said bracket, said forked member having two spaced legs, a receiving member fixed to said bracket, said receiving member projecting from said bracket in an axial direction to a position between the spaced legs of said forked member, movable elements threadedly engaged in each of said spaced legs and operable to engage said fixed receiving member to thereby adjustably rotate said shaft in said bracket when said threaded element has released said force to said slot and said shaft is loosely held in said opening in said bracket.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said forked member has a lateral projection which extends beyond the outer edge of said bracket, said bracket being axially located on said shaft between said forked member and said slide, a threaded screw member rotatingly supported in said lateral projection of said forked member, said threaded screw element extending parallel to said shaft and being disposed beyond said outer edge of said bracket, and means interconnecting said screw member and said slide for said manipulator arm such that rotation of said screw member raises and lowers said slide and said manipulator arm relative to said forked member and relative to said bracket. 